What to do with a tyre kicker...

[QIK78U]

I am trying to sell my beloved car atm, all I seem to get is wankers wanting to look at it and go for a test drive. Damn, I havent even put it in the trading post yet.. Why do peope waste there own time looking at a car if they cant or couldnt be bothered in getting the moneys?

Any ideas guys/girls?

[ed]

ask for a deposit to see the car

[fatz]

yea sames with the gtr

told about 3 p platers to go and get ***ed

taken 4 deposits

shit loads of drives

what a waste of time

im going to keep it

pete

[two40]

Originally posted by fatz

what a waste of time  

im going to keep it

pete

at least something good has come from a tyre kicker:uh-huh:

[Al]

On one occation, when i was looking for my car, i spent about 1-2 hours looking over it, finding defects and trying to get a good knowledge of the condition of the car. During this time the owner asked me 3 times "what are you looking for?/ I'm tellin ya the car is perfect and has never been in an accedent" and so on. Basically when it comes to business, trust no one (almost). After finding a few minor faults, i asked him to go for a test drive. His response: "What!, Are you going to make an offer first?!, blah, blah.". I turned around and said: "How the hell can i make an offer if i haven't felt the car on the road, felt how it handles, etc, etc". Basically i got the impresion that this guy was hiding something and was looking for a fool to see the aftermarket gear and blindly buy it, so i told him to keep his car in the driveway and drove back home.

So, what i am trying to say is that you have to take the good with the bad and be patient. Generally you can sus out the tyre kickers/joy riders, but if someone looks genuine they will need/want to drive the car b4 making an offer.

[Tex]

Yeah, Al is right.

I recently checked out a car I was interested in buying, so Dad and I went to check it out. The car was unregistered and completely uninsured, so we didn't test drive it. We checked it as thoroughly as we could ourselves, located any rough spots, and ultimately had the car taken to our specialist mechanic for a comprehensive indspection, which netted us a list of about 2-or-so grand worth of repairs that needed doing without delay.

Based on that, the seller's asking price was too high, and I let it go.

I guess maybe the type of car you're selling attracts that type of person Rob?

Tex

[Jamsvx]

Its hard, especially with a car like a GTR.

That said, look at it from say a genuine buyer's view....you don't want to tick them off since there are quite a number they can go and look at.

I had a classic with the SVX that I bought....knowing too much about them was in the eyes of one seller, a bad thing - he says to me (50 year old 'company director' wanker that he was) "sounds like to me you don't have the money but just are fascinated with them" - I was in my Camry at the time. I walked.

Lo and behold, he rings me about 4 months later asking if I was still interested!! Can you believe it!! Conversation went something like this:

"You saw my SVX a while back - are you still interested"

"Hmm, lets see...I am now sitting in one that I bought for half your asking price, 1/3rd the k's and five times better condition - if you weren't such a pretensious and rude prick I would have probably have bought yours"

"*&^&^% you mate - there's heaps of people interested"

"Really? Considering I run the club for them, and I get calls from people asking about SVX's, don't even bother trying to sell it in NSW"

Its a fine line - but don't judge solely by what car they arrive in, what they dress like. In any event, best of luck selling it - maybe someone on here perhaps???

Cheers

James

PS: hey Tex!

[Shell]

Rob, u just need to be patient

it's a virtue....apparently!

I think it's a fine line....I know if I was looking for a particular performance car I would look at as many as possible till I found "the one" that grabbed me. Doesn't mean i was tyre-kicking with the ones i didn't buy...just means there was something about it that didn't appeal to me.

But i do agree with the money thing...if you don't have the money yet, or aren't completely serious about buying it IF it turns out to be exactly what you're after then don't go wasting the sellers time

[Tex]

Haha, nice story James. And hi!

Shell, that's it too, sometimes you want to hold out for that "one" that has everything, and leaps out and grabs you. This is as important as getting one that's in great mechanical and physical nick, especially if the things you want are not easily changeable (such as the car being the wrong colour for example).

When I looked at the car I referred to above, I felt a bit slack for all the crap we had to go through (the seller was in QLD, so it was hard to arrange stuff - but that's his problem, not mine), but on my very first contact with him, I told him that if the car looked suitable, it WOULD be inspected by our mechanic for me to even consider buying it. Seeing as the seller was a mechanic by trade it would have been helpful if he'd just told me the things that needed fixing then and there, instead of keeping his mouth shut until I came back to him with a full list of issues, then saying "yeah, I know all the problems mate, I'm a mechanic by trade".

Annoying!

Tex

[Kinks]

I felt like a tyre kicker at times when scouring the dealers - like test driving pulsar LX's and pretty much realising as soon as i'd left the carpark that it wasn't even close to what I wanted (but hey, i didn't know that before). But I have far fewer problems "using" dealers than private sellers

[OZ GTR35]

I have one simple rule when it comes to selling a fast car. Test drives are done by me the owner. Any serious buyer will appreciate the fact you respect the car enough not to let kids go for a thrash. My story is Let me take you for a drive, and I will show you how the car drives and handles". You then let them get an NRMA check done if they are serious. Once they are happy and they are about to pay a deposit then I let them drive my car.

When a tyre kicker calls just to get a drive, and you say no, using the explanation above, you ensure only serious buyers turn up.

It may not work 100% but it removes the idiot factor when selling a performance car.

[Jamsvx]

I agree with Oz GTR97V to a fair extent although on a somewhat different basis. Whenever I have looked at a car and it comes to the driving stage, I get them to drive first - partly so I can concentrate on other things that I may miss when I am driving it, conscious that I am that it is someones else's car still (!) but moreso to see how they drive it. I remember a classic with a Soarer twin turbo (considered quite a few other cars while looking for the 'right' SVX) and, from cold, he guns the *&^*&^ out of it non-stop....any surprise I decided immediately that I would not want it!

Overall, with 'performance cars', its a catch-22. You need to drive ti to decide it you want it, but you don't want to waste someones time then by the same token from the seller's point of view, he/she wants to sell it! And that, pardon the frecnh, crap about "well Motor/Wheels etc etc" say its good so you don't need a drive (common with Subaru dealers in the late 90's selling WRX's) is complete claptrap!! You need to drive a number of them, and for a long period of time too - 5 mins around the block tells sweet f/a - hence the need also to look at others for comparison. I'm sure that the GTR is an animal of a car, I am sure that it goes like the proverbial but having not been in one and for an extended period of time, I don't know whether I would buy one. By way of example, a F348 goes like the devil, looks great but having been in a few for, collectively, a few hours, I would not buy one. But when I was first in them I thought "wow...I would get this!"

I guess at the end of the day it comes down to gut instinct - do you believe they are serious. I was always upfront with the alternates that I looked at "I have been looking for an SVX, have been unable to find one worth buying and yours is an alternative" etc etc.

With the deposit thing, its just a personal thing but no matter how serious I was, I would not be putting a deposit down - if I did, it would be with a contract quite a few pages in length that the seller would have to sign too- there is just too much that can go wrong with handing over sums of money on 'word' alone.

C'mon guys...surely someone here can buy it rather than enrich some dodgy Parra Road cowboy!!

Jamsvx

[predator]

Thing is its hard to tell till you see it in the flesh. Photos can hide a myriad of faults, and exactly like Al said, until you look at it closely and drive it how can you tell. Sure you might know you're an honest and trustworthy guy, and your mates do to, but still the buyer is never going to be truly sure.

Very few people will say to your face "this car is shit for that price, I'm not going to buy it". What annoys me though is people who know very much what they are getting and STILL waste your time. Yes, unfortunately, very much young 18-20 "dreamers"

The mechanical inspection is a dodgy one too - the car may have no worthwhile problems, and yet some mechanic who could in fact know fark all about that particular model (common) say it could be up for "thousands if you bought it" when really that sort of wear is going to be encountered in any car. A lot of the time if you know what you're doing you can replace some of what they tell you is going to cost "thousands" for a few hundred bucks anyway. Or for example, that full $3000 gearbox rebuild might be able to be got for like $1000 when you actually get it done. And what car is ever perfect in every single way unless its new. You have to expect a few faults, as long as not too major.

By all rights if you have the money to buy it, and want to buy it if all is right you should have the deposit in your pocket ready to put an offer down right there and then after speificy (in writing!!) the conditions of the deposit being the sale.

I agree very much with Oz GTR97V, you take them for a drive and they will get a feel for the car if they've never been in one. Then if they're interested, say "well this car isn't insured if you drive it, put down a deposit and really indicate your interest" or I'm not letting you drive it". For a 20-30k car i think that is most reasonable, and the buyer should understand that.

My last car i took much less than i wanted just because the guy offered me cash there and then on the spot and i was done with it (and time wasters) and he drove it away 10 minutes later.

[Nizmo]

i dont mind people coming and looking at the car: but dont promise deposits etc if you have no intention on taking the car - ive had about 4 different deposit promises on my ZX i was trying to sell - then u get "oh umm the finance fell thru" Or unrealistic offers! Oh well finally after four months sold it.

[CanberraR33]

I agree with OzGTR97V. That is the way to go selling any car. It weeds out the lookers from the buyers.

I had a few issues when I bought my Skyline. Being 19 a lot of ppl took me for a tyre kicker. The same thing happened when I bought a brand new Astra when I was 18. I found going in a suit straight from work helps a lot!